Just as the light of the sun attracts a healthy eye, so through love knowledge of God naturally draws to itself the pure intellect. A pure intellect is one divorced from ignorance and illusion by divine light. (Maximos the Confessor)

Ignorance is clear enough and, while tough to avoid, easy to acknowledge.

Illusion is the tricky one. The human mind perceives through narrative. I observe a beginning, often in retrospect. I experience a middle extending from that beginning.

Then I anticipate, hope for, or dread a culmination.

That projecting into the future is how my species survived. It is also the source of my greatest anxiety. It is what separates me from God.

Dearest God, work with me to purify my intellect.